New Year Celebration: Various Traditions and Cultures: Tips for New Year 2025

New Year always starts with a new spirit. People create new plans, To-Do lists and determine goals for the whole year whether they can complete them or not.

Just like every culture is unique, their way of celebration is unique as well.

Let’s explore about the New Year!

While mostly 1^st January is celebrated as the NewYear but not everywhere. Many countries have their own calendars.

 

History of New Year’s Festival Celebration

The most widely used calendar is Gregorian calendar which has January 1^st as the first of day of the year.

Mesopotamia founded the first New Year festival which date backs to 2000 BCE. The celebration festival is recorded to be held in Babylon present in the ancient Mesopotamia in 2000 BCE which is 4000 years ago.

Babylonians celebrated the New Year on the basis of the first new moon after the spring equinox. Equinox is basically when the length of the day and night is equal. The equinox in 2025 is expected to be on Thursday March 15.

In Babylonians the New Year’s celebration was called “Akitu”. The purpose of the Babylonians to celebrate the New Year’s festival was the rebirth of the natural world. The Babylonians of the ancient Mesopotamia had variance of rituals during Akitu which was based on 11 or 12 days.

The Babylonians carried the states of their gods. Their fascinating rituals included a kind of humiliation suffered by the Babylonian king. The humiliation involved the King to forcefully swear that the city was led with honor by the King. A hierarch would then slap and drag the monarch in the hope of making the monarch cry. If the royal tears of the monarch were shed; it was viewed as the satisfaction of their god and that the rule of the king is extended.

Gradually different civilizations adopted the concept of New Year Festival celebration which was based on their beliefs and astronomical observations.

Various Calendars

Even though the Gregorian calendar is widely followed, different countries have their own calendars according to thei beliefs and traditions. Also it’s not 2024 everywhere.

Let’s explore the different aspects!

There are around 40 calendars in use today in the world. But some mainly used calendars are the Gregorian, Islamic (Hijri) Calendar, Jewish (Hebrew) Calendar, Hindu Calendar, Julian calendar, Chinese calendar and Persian Calendar.

Let’s take a look at these mainly used Calendars.

Gregorian: The Gregorian calendar which is widely used. It’s a solar calendar. January 1^st is considered and celebrated to be the beginning of the New Year.

Islamic (Hijri calendar): The Hijri calendar followed is the Muslim countries is a lunar calendar. Hijri calendar considers Muharram 1^st as the beginning of the New Year.

Jewish (Hebrew calendar): The Jewish New Year called Rosh Hashanah is based on both the sun and moon making it a lunisolar calendar. It considers the first and second days as the New Year’s beginning of the Hebrew month Tishrei.

Hindu calendar: The Hindu calendar which is also known as Vikram Samvat is a lunar based calendar. It considers the month of Chaitra as the beginning of the New Year.

Julian Calendar: In the Julian calendar the 1^st of January was celebrated as the beginning of the New Year but after the fall of the Roman Empire the dates changed at some places across Europe.

In some places it was changed to March 25 and some to December 25. Then in the year 1582 the Pope Gregory XIII presented a revised calendar that restored January 1^st as the beginning of the year. Also the introduction of leap years was also done by the Julian calendar.

Chinese Calendar: The Chinese calendar is lunisolar calendar. Although Modern China follows the Gregorian calendar as well but the holidays etc. are based on this calendar. The Chinese calendar considers the eleventh month as the New Year’ start. Between January 21 to February 25.

Persian calendar: The Persian calendar is a solar calendar. Nowruz (the first day of the Iranian New Year) in Persian calendar is considered to be the first day of Farvardīn month.

So these are some widely used calendars each with its own significance and time of the New Year. But still there are some countries in the world that use their own calendars and don’t follow worldwide calendar Gregorian.

Like North Korea, they have their own calendar system. The North Korean calendar is called The Juche calendar. It starts with the birth of the founder of North Korea Kim-Il-Sung who was born in 1912 and North Korea started using this calendar in the year 1997 when three years passed after the death of Kim-Il-Sung.

As of now year 113 is going on in North Korea. Although now North Korea has started using the Gregorian calendar.

Celebration and Traditions

Mostly countries celebrate their New Year with lighting up and firecrackers but traditions vary by country.

Many countries celebrate New Year by big firework displays.

In Spain, at every clock-stroke people eat a grape in total of 12 grapes at mid night as celebration and good luck.

In Japan and South Korea, for the New Year people ring bells 108 times.

In Italy, South Africa and some other countries people throw their old items out of the window for the New Year.

Resolutions and Setting Goals

A lot of people write their New Year resolutions and goals and self-promises that they hope to achieve in the year ahead.

The starting of New Year is a fresh start for all of us. We can bring change in our lives and have great opportunities.

Writing down the resolutions and sharing it with family and friends can increase motivation as well.

The New Year marks new beginnings and celebrations. It is widely celebrated giving time to people to celebrate with the loved ones, plan new things, set new goals and the resolutions and change themselves. It is basically a fresh start for the people!

Happy New Year!